How to Pick the Best Florida Beach for Your Vacation

Every year I get dozens of emails from people who are comparing
the merits of various islands and trying to choose a beach for their
vacation. So I'm going to give you some things to think about while
you plan your Florida beach vacation.

First, understand that you'll probably have to compromise.
Make a list of expectations, wants and needs. Then get together
with your family and prioritize the list. Separate the items into
things you MUST have vs. what would be nice but not necessarily
essential. If you are having trouble prioritizing, consider how much
time will be devoted to various activities.

Be realistic. If your two top priority items are quiet, secluded
natural beaches AND lots of shopping and fine dining with plenty of
non-beach activities to keep the kids busy, you're kidding yourself.
Those two things don't co-exist. Pick one and consider making a
day trip to enjoy the other.

Consider how much of your vacation time will be devoted to:

Just relaxing on the beach.

Shopping.

Visiting nearby attractions.

Eating in restaurants vs. cooking in your unit.

Taking tours such as sunset cruises, nature tours, etc.

Keeping the kids entertained.

Other things to consider when planning your beach vacation:

Do you prefer a quiet beach vacation where natural surroundings
are important? Or do you prefer all of life's amenities close by and
convenient? Do you need night life? Or do you prefer to just take a
stroll on the beach at night and enjoy the stars and moon? Will you
have a access to a car? Or do you need to be able to walk or take
public transportation? What type of water activities will you
be interested in. Surfing? Snorkeling? Kayaking? Fishing? Swimming?
Shelling?

If you want a wide selection of restaurants and plenty of
shopping close by, you'll want to pick a place with more commercial
development. However, you will have to give up some serenity and put
up with more traffic and more congestion and longer wait times in
restaurants than if you picked a less developed area.

Examples:St. Pete Beach
is a good example of a beach vacation area that offers a wide
selection of hotels, restaurants, attractions, shopping, an
inexpensive trolley for transportation, and a great beach. But the
beach is lined with hotels and condos, not greenery. And the traffic
can get pretty heavy.

On the other hand, the beaches between Melbourne Beach and
Sebastian Inlet on the Atlantic Coast offer long stretches of
secluded beaches with a few rental condos here and there (no
hotels). You could really have a quiet get-away in that area, but
you'd have to drive half-an-hour to Melbourne Beach or Indialantic
for restaurants and shopping.

Florida Beaches with Tropical Coconut Palms

If you want beautiful graceful coconut palms on the beach, you'll
need to go as far south as the
Fort Myers beaches
/ Sanibel area
beaches on the Gulf Coast, or the Fort Lauderdale/Miami beaches
on the Atlantic side. Coconut palms only grow well in the warmest
areas. Don't expect a beach with beautiful coconut palms in places
like Destin, Daytona, or Clearwater Beach. Go south.

Florida Beaches with Clear Water

If you want crystal clear water, generally you'll want to
consider the Florida Panhandle beaches like Pensacola, Fort Walton
Beach, Destin, Seaside, Panama City Beach, or Grayton Beach. These
areas are famous for clear emerald waters. They are also our most
northern beaches, so they are most suitable for the months of April
through early October. Winters can be pretty chilly.

Tampa Bay area beaches have nice water, but it is not as
clear as beaches to the south of Tampa Bay

Florida Beaches for Snorkeling

You can enjoy swimming with your mask, snorkel and fins on any
Florida beach. However, some beaches are better than others for a
variety of reasons.

Beach areas with the following conditions are not the best
for snorkeling:

Breaking waves

Strong currents

Heavy boat traffic

Murky opaque waters

The best snorkeling is found on beaches with:

Clear, calm waters

Interesting underwater features like rocks (reefs or
jetties) or coral reefs (Florida Keys)

Some of the best conditions for snorkeling in Florida occur in
the Florida Keys and along the lower southeast Atlantic coast, south
of West Palm Beach.

Secluded Florida Beaches

Secluded beaches are secluded because they are a long distance
from the crowds, the restaurants, the attractions and stores. To
find a really secluded beach you'll usually need to get in your car
and drive to a National Seashore, National Park, or State Park. Even
the state park beaches are getting crowded now. Gulf Islands
National Seashore, Canaveral National Seashore,
Caladesi Island
State Park beaches,
Cayo Costa State
Park beaches,
Bahia Honda State Park beaches, Archie Car National Wildlife
Refuge beaches all offer secluded beaches. Don't expect to find a
secluded beach right in the middle of Daytona.

In almost any beach community you can find a house to rent a
block or two from the beach. But finding a house right on the beach
can be different, depending where you are. Destin, for instance, has
very few beach hotels, but lots of large houses for rent right on
the beach.

Oceanfront? Not.

If you want to rent accommodations right on the sand overlooking
the ocean or gulf, you need to specify that. Many rental communities
have all kinds of tricky language to make you THINK you are renting
a place overlooking the water, when you are actually half-a-block
away or even across the street. For instance, a unit might be
advertised as "oceanside," which makes you think it is beside the
ocean, right? But no, if you want to be right on the ocean, you need
to ask for "oceanfront." Or it could be "beachside" vs.
"beachfront," or some other variation on that theme. Lots of
advertisers will put photographs on their website that make it look
like the unit is right on the beach when in fact it is not. There is
nothing wrong with renting a unit that is a block from the beach,
but you need to know what you are getting up front. It isn't a nice
surprise to think you are going to walk out on your balcony and see
the ocean, but find out after you arrive that you have to actually
drag your beach gear up the street to get a look at the water.

Camping on Florida Beaches

It is very difficult to find a place where you can camp right on
the beach sand. In most places, even the most secluded beaches, it
is not allowed because it interferes with turtle nesting and other
aspects of nature. Even State Parks with beaches usually locate
their campgrounds behind the dunes, not right on the beach. It is
generally against county or city ordinances to build ground fires on
the beach. For more details and a list of beaches where camping is
allowed on or near the beach, check out my page about
camping on
Florida beaches.

Florida Keys Beaches

The focus in the Keys is on fishing, snorkeling and SCUBA diving.
However they do have some nice beaches down there. The best beaches
do not offer hotels or condos. You have to drive to the beach from
wherever you are staying.
Sombrero Beach,
Bahia Honda,
and
Smathers Beach are the three best beaches in the Keys. You can
actually get a hotel across the street from Smathers Beach in Key
West. For more details, visit my pages on
Florida
Keys beaches.

Weather Considerations

One of the main considerations in choosing the best place is your
expectation about weather. From May through October, any of the
beaches in Florida are just fine. In other words, the air and water
temperatures, and daily weather patterns are essentially the same
throughout the state.

Beginning in November, the weather starts to get more variable as
cold fronts begin to penetrate further and further south in
Florida. It is still quite possible to have a week of 85 degree
weather in November or December, but you can't always depend on it
unless you are in the Ft. Lauderdale / Miami area or in the Florida
Keys.

By January, it can get pretty chilly and stay that way for
several weeks. January and February are the coldest months (and
March isn't much warmer). By April, we start seeing quite a few
warm, sunny days. May is usually downright hot and tends to be dry.

So, from November through April you might consider choosing a
beach further south, to maximize the warmth. Fort Myers Beach,
Naples, and Marco Island have the warmest beaches on the Gulf. When I say
warmest, I mean that the temperature difference between Clearwater
Beach and Marco Island might be as much as 8 to 10 degrees or more.
The water temperatures could be as much as 4 to 6 degrees warmer on
Marco Island than on Clearwater Beach.

On the Atlantic side you'll find the warmest water below West
Palm Beach. The Florida Keys also have the warmest water.